Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, December 31st, 2024

Eight music concert documentaries you should watch instead of the Zombie Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, December 31st, 2024:

MY 2025 MEDIA PREDICTIONS
Making predictions about an inherently unpredictable media world is a bit of a fool's errand. But potentially looking like an idiot has never gotten in the way of me weighing in on a topic. So with all of that, here are some (mostly) serious predictions about what 2025 will bring for the television and media business.

* Despite a lot of hyping from investors, Warner Bros Discovery will not be engaged in an M&A with anyone. But not for lack of trying from WBD CEO David Zaslav and primary advisor John Malone.

* The Penske Media Corporation will consolidate its Hollywood trade publication business, including cutting back the scope of The Hollywood Reporter's print business, completely shuttering one title (IndieWire?) and instituting a soft paywall for Variety.com

* CNN and MSNBC will continue to make headlines pursuing differing visions of the same ill-fated goal - to be seen as "non-partisan" by bringing more Trump-friendly voices onto the network.

* One of the major FAST platforms will launch a nightly live talk show, but it will more closely resemble the old Bob Costas talker Later than a traditional broadcast late night talk show.

* Comcast will make a deal with the producers of Sesame Street to produce a new season of the show for Peacock, as well as license content for a Sesame Street FAST channel as well as catalog episodes for Peacock and the Xumo Play app.

* One of big three broadcast networks will decide to return the 10:00 pm primetime hour to its affiliates.

EIGHT MUSIC CONCERT DOCUMENTARIES YOU SHOULD WATCH INSTEAD OF THE ZOMBIE DICK CLARK'S NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN' EVE
No matter how laidback and low-key your New Year's Eve plans might be, there is no reason to watch the relentlessly vapid Ryan Seacrest celebrate the dropping of the Times Square ball at midnight surrounded by C-level celebrities who all look as if they are part of a hostage situation.

Instead, check out one of these classic pop & rock music documentaries, all available for streaming:

* Reinventing Elvis: The '68 Comeback (Paramount+)
It's easy to dismiss Elvis Presley in 2024. Most of what younger music fans see of the King are clips from his tacky motion pictures or Fat Elvis performances from near the end of his career. But as this documentary shows, he was capable of cranking out some impressive performances when he was given the opportunity and distance from the questionable commercial decisions of his longtime manager Colonel Parker. Elvis' live performances in his legendary 1968 TV special are still stunning examples of a charismatic rock and roller at the peak of his talents.

* The Night James Brown Saved Boston (Peacock)
Two days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., James Brown performed at the Boston Garden, shielding the city from widespread riots. This is another performer you might not know if you’re under the age of fifty.

* Gimme Shelter (Max)
This documentary of the 1969 Rolling Stones tour of the United States showed the band at its creative height and after the events at Altamont, the moment when that generation's innocence disappeared following the death of a man who was killed by Hell's Angels during a concert.

* Joe Feliciano: Behind This Guitar (Peacock)
Although this is more music documentary than live performance film, it's worth watching this absolutely fascinating profile of the Puerto Rican singer/guitarist who won nine Grammys, wrote the theme song to "Chico & The Man" and created an absolute Christmas classic. He also performed a version of the National Anthem that was so controversial it nearly ended his career.

Beyonce Bowl (Netflix)
While I enjoy Beyonce's music just fine, I find her live performances feel more like branding exercises than musical experiences. Regardless, Netflix has released her recent Christmas Day NFL halftime performance as a stand-alone special and there are worse ways to kick off the new year.

* Monterey Pop (Max)
D.A. Pennebaker's 1968 film of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival features a murderer's row of live performances by Simon & Garfunkel, The Mamas & The Papas, Jefferson Airplane, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Big Brother & The Holding Company with Janis Joplin, The Who, Otis Redding backed by Booker T & the MGs, and topped off by a frantic Jimi Hendrix performance that ended with him smashing his guitar.

* The Doors: Live At The Bowl '68 (Peacock)
Some music is both great and also limited by being tethered to a specific point in history. This live Doors Performance at the Hollywood Bowl in 1968 is a solid explanation of why the band was so popular in the late 1960s, as the band tears through live versions of "Hello, I Love You," "The End," "Light My Fire" and "Moonlight Drive. But the music also feels very late 1960s and I can't say that it has aged especially well over the past fifty years. Still, it's well worth watching if you're a classic rock fan.

* Don't Look Back (Max)
The documentary follows Bob Dylan during his 1965 tour in England. He refuses to talk to reporters, stonewalls pop singer Donovan and flashes lyric-emblazoned cue cards.

ODDS AND SODS
* Longtime ABC and CNN anchor Aaron Brown has died at the age of 76. This new reminded me that his first network anchor job was in 1991, when he and Lisa McRee became the founding anchors of the overnight newscast ABC News Now. I did some videos that aired on the show and I wish I still had a copy of them (and weirdly, the ABC News Archive doesn't seem to have them). That show was in the same category of the famed NBC late night news program NBC News Overnight - shows that managed to create their own quirky style despite being tasked with essentially being a clip show of news coverage from earlier in the day.

* Peacock has canceled its adult animation series In the Know after one season.

* If you're looking for a long read for the weekend, this 1973 New York profile of Julia Child is incredible.

* Season six of The Kardashians will premiere Thursday, February 6th on Hulu.

WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND THIS WEEK

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31ST:
A Toast To 2024! (ABC)
Avicii: I'm Tim (Netflix)
Avicii: My Last Show (Netflix) - (first look video)
Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2025 (ABC)
Fate/Strange Fate Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
Gardeners' World Winter Special 2024 (Britbox)
Horror's Greatest (Shudder)
Michelle Buteau: A Buteau-ful Mind (Netflix)
New Year's Eve Live: Nashville's Big Bash (CBS)

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1ST, 2025:
Don't Die: The Man Who Wants To Live Forever (Netflix)
Kitchen Nightmares Season Premiere (Fox)
Missing You Series Premiere (Netflix)
Number 24 (Netflix)

SEE YOU ON THURSDAY!